Cast refractory product



Patented Sept. 24, 1946 UNITED STATES 'PATENT orrlcia..

, Corhart Refractories Company,

Louisville, Ky.,

- arcorporaton of Delaware Application August 1, 1944, Serial No. 547,565v

6 Claims. 1

This invention relates. to a novel heat cast chromite refractory, which is particularly suitable for use at high temperatures in contact With slags high in iron oxide. lBy heat cast is meant the complete melting as for example with the techiniques disclosed in U.; S. Patent #1,615,750 to Fulcher, and shaping .into the desired form by casting into molds and solidifying.

The extensive use of electric furnaces for melting alloy steelshas created new refractory problems since the slags which arepreferred may be quite dierent from thel traditional high alkaline earth slags of the blast furnace and the open hearth. The slag in an electric furnace melting chrome steel commercially for examplel analysed roughly 72% FeO, 16% A1202, 4% Cr203, 6% -Si02 and only 2% CaO and MgO, and such a slag has been used for test purposes on the novel refractories disclosed below. In such a furnace, attack on the refractories is partly chemical corrosion and partly mechanical erosion. I have found that a heat cast refractory is particularly advantageous where erosion Yis a factor since the crystals in forming on solidication apparently interlock and at anyrate give a strongly coherent body even whenjreheated above the softening ltemperature of the amorphous matrix associated with such refractories.` This matrixl replaces both the porosity and the luxing bond of theburnt refractory and since it is in substantial equilibrium' with the crystals it is not appreciably corrosive on these crystals as` the temperature is increased and ontheother Ahand u by its substitution for porosity prevents ready access of slags which` are corrosive into the body-V ofthe refractory.

In my U. S. Patent 2,271,363 I have disclosed a heat cast refractory consisting of FeO.Cr2Os, to be made from pure materials since this was developed for use against commercial glasses Where the presence of SiO2 or MgO and A1203 together is harmful. Vl have found that pure FeQCrzOs is excellent in chemical resistance to high FeO slags also but the high Cr2O3 content (68%) and the cost of pure materials is a drawback to general commercial use. Also expensive and even higher in Cr2O3 content (79%) is pure MgO.Cr2O3 as disclosed in my U. S. Patent 2,271,362 but this refractory also has limitations in its tendency to swell and disrupt undermoxidizing conditions. Even the Vcombination of as` much as FeO.Cr2Os with MgO.Cr2O3 in the system `disclosed in my U. S. Patent 2,271,364 did not entirely prevent this swelling in contact With the high FeO slag. On the otherV hand addition f, that mixtures of mercial magnesite for the MgO, the

of as much as V50% FeQCrzOa inthe syt'em disclosed in my U. S. Patent 2,271,365 promotes swelling of this also. It is very surprising therefore that my tests show al1 three spinels, FeO.Cr2Os, MgO.Cr2O3 and FeO.Al2O3 give a remarkably stable refractory with a minimum of reaction withthe slag." The inclusion of the FeO.Al2O3 decreases the Cr2O3 necessary and therefore lowers cost. A solid solution of course results when a melt containing oxides in spinel proportions isl cooled and the spinels do not have individual existences inthe crystal phase. Nor is it essential that the bivalentand trivalent oxides be present in exactly equal molar quantities since anexcess of as much as 20% of one or the other can apparently of higher A1203 and MgO- rather than higher FeO or CrzOs. To minimize the reduction to metallic iron I prefer -to add the iron oxide as Fe2Oa or'leaOiv While commercial chrome green may be used for Cr203 and a good grade of comalumina being the chemically pure vgrade used'vfor metal production by electrolysis. Specimen batches which I have heat cast and tested against the high FeO slag are illustrated in Table I below. The analyses are calculated into approximate spinel proportions as shown in Table II and test results, with the high FeO slag are indicated.

l TABLE I Batch composition, in per cent by weight CrzOs Feed:

FeO.Aa to the good bev absorbed by the solid l solution In other words it is suflicient that the Mg() A120:

TABLE' II Calculated proportions in mol percent cation of the extent of interaction, while oxiday tion was indicated by swelling. With pure materials it was found that equally good results were obtained with melt H which has 17% less Cr203 than melt A and subsequent service tests with brick of this composition have given outstanding performance where commercial burnt refractories failed rapidly.

I have also discovered that unlike the results in tests against commercial bottle glass, a certain amount of Si02 can be tolerated without ruining the resistance to slag despite high FeO content. Good results were obtained when as much as 8% SiOz was added to ferrous chromite.

The possibility of including SiO2 as well as MgO and A1203 permits the substitution of chrome ore for at least part of the chrome green with a distinct saving in costs. Tests with chrome ore included in the batch have shown however that the S102 should still be kept as low as possible.

For this reason as well as to permit maximum substitution of the chromev ore for chrome green it is desirable to use a high grade, chemical typev of chrome ore. One which I have found suitable analysed 52.55% Cr2O3, 14.56% (total Fe as) FeO, 15.72% MgO, 11.72% A1203, 1.57% CaO, and 3.31% S102.

As it occurs in nature, the primary component of chrome ore is usually considered to be but considerable of the FeO is replaced with MgO and considerable of the Cr203 is replaced by A1203 while of even greater importance to its aoQ characteristics as a refractory, a gangue is also l present in which the following magnesium silicates have been identified in various ores:

refractory. With complete melting it is also possible to adjust the composition to minimize non spinel crystallization. In Table IlI are listed batches with chrome ore as an ingredient which have all given good tests against the high FeO, low alkaline earth slag.

TABLE III C2203 FeO MgO A1203 CaO These batches were made by using the maximum amount of the above chrome ore, adding to it necessary amounts of chrome green, alumina, magnesite or Fe304 (and in one case kyam'te) to give the indicated analysis. At the lower Cr203 level the resistance to slag clearly decreased as MgO replaced FeO contrary to the usual teachings for burnt chrome refractorles for use against high alkaline earth slags. This effect is so pronounced in fact that substantially equivalent results were obtained on the test for melt VJ with 20% Cr203 and melt O with 38.6% C1203, the former being high in FeO and the latter in MgO. With FeO maintained high however, resistance increased as Cr203 increased. Even the 1% of Si02 in melt Q in comparison with melt H showed a measurable effect on resistance and in general Si02 should be kept below 5% to gain the full advantage of such batches.

Fig. 1 is the conventional representation by an equilateral tetrahedron of all compositions on a weight per cent basis which exist in the four component system CrzOs-MgO-FeO-AlgOs. The six binary systems, i. e., FeO-CrzOa, MgO-Cr20s, A1203-CI203, FGO-A1203, FeO-MgO a n d MgO-AlzOa, are represented' by compositions along the edges of the tetrahedron. The four ternary systems, i. e., FeO-MgO-CrzOs, CrzOs- MgO-AlzOs, Al2O2FeOCr2O3 and FeO-MgO- A1203, are represented by compositions on the triangular faces of the tetrahedron. All compositions of four oxides are represented by points Within the tetrahedron. Four of the binary systems are between a bivalent oxide and a trivalent oxide and these form spinels l(FeO.Cr2O3, MgO.Cr2O3, FeO.Al2O3 and Mg0.Al2Os) at the points indicated on the edges of the tetrahedron. A11 four ternary systems have solid solutions between two spinels (FeO.Cr20a-MgO.Cr2O3, MgO.Cr203-MgO.Al2O3, MgO.A12O3FeO.Al2Oa and Fe0.Al2O3-FeO.'Cr2O3), thev compositions of which are represented by points on theV straight lines ,5 l which connect' the two spinel's on the: triangular faces of the tetrahedron'; All compositions of four oxides in whichv the moles oflbivalent oxide 4are equal to theinoles of trivalent oxide fall on the shaded plane of Fig. 1 which passesthrougn the four spinel compositions. All compositions which Ihave found resistant to high FeO, low alkaline earth'slag are on, or yclose to, this plane in conrposition. l

. Because only three points' are requiredtoiix a plane but four spinels are located on this plane it follows that compositions on the plane can be expressed in more than one way in terms of the spinels present. Actually, since a solid solution occurs between these spinel oxides, description in terms of individual spinels is artificial anyway. Such description has advantages in batch calculation however and for that reason I express my compositions in terms of individual spinels. All compositions in the shaded plane of Fig. 1 are shown on a magnified scale as a spinel tetrahedron in Fig. 2. According to my discoveries it is advantageous to select for a high FeO, low alkaline earth slag, a spinel composition with ap preciable percentages of Fe0.Cr203 and FeO.A1203 as well as MgO.Cr2O3 and Mg0.Al203. f A single composition of FeO, MgO, Cr203 and A1203 can in general be represented by a line in the spinel tetrahedron with its ends in two different faces of the tetrahedron; that is, as long as the moles of bivalent oxide equal the moles of trivalent oxide the Quaternary composition can be represented by points in two ternary spinel planes or by those Quaternary spinel compositions along a line connecting in the tetrahedron the two ternary compositions.

Thus in Table IV are given the two calculated terminal ternary Ispinel compositions for such composition lines for the batches in Table III. The calculations ignore the S102 and CaO impurities and therefore add up to ing their location in Fig. 2. With the normal amount of annealing given a heat cast refractory, the composition does not crystallize completely and the Si02 remains as an amorphous matrix containing any impurities and residual amounts of spinel forming oxides.

It is characteristic of these novel compositions that appreciable percentages are in the proportions of Fe0.Cr2O3 and Fe0.Al203 and that all four spinel forming oxides are present.

In natural chrome ores, varying amounts of the iron oxide are present as Fe203 and such ores should be considered in a sexenary system with 100% for visualizp FeO.Fe203 and.-ll'llgoxllezO3` as components 'with the? other .fur' spiriels" ln burnt refractories this le203` is preservedfand. in fact 'some additional Fe203 may. be formed during burning by oxidationzof :part'of the'leO.y In manufacture of the heat cast refractory in thek .presence of carbon electrodes however, conditions are reducing and the .oxide must be in equilibrium with metallic iron being formed, so'that k1e20'3 originally presentjis substantially all converted to FeO, keeping the system'. quaternary.V Since FeOJezOa is not n very refractory. this 'is another advantage of the vheat cast refractory over a burnt refractory. While the burnt refractory art teaches that Fe0.Cr203 is unstable at elevated temperatures and that it is advantageous to add MgO to convert to Mg0.Cr203 and FeO, I have not found heat cast refractories high in FeO.Cr203 especially susceptible to oxidation. I attribute this to the lack of porosity which confines any oxidation attack to the surface alone.

In Table V below I give the mol values of the four major constituents of melts'G to T inclusive of the above Tables I and III:

TABLE V Mzllzmols in 100 grams of batch Melt C1203 Fe() MgO A1203 375 233 24s 147 355 337 124 147 132 355 20s. 432 132 132 431 47o 132 235 30o 443 255 459 4o 236 254 253 283 276 254 111 456 302 34e 203 339 115 357 337 124 145 38o 42o 4o 76 332 111 409 13o 445 122 394 49 in which the ratio of the mols of MgCl to the'mols of FeO lies between 0.1 and 4.

2. A heat cast refractory composed principally of Cr203, FeO, A1203 and MgO in which the moles of Cr203 plus A1203 lie between and 120% of the moles of FeO plus MgO and in which the FeO lies between 8% and 38%, the MgO lies between 1.5% and 21%, the Cr203 lies between y11% and 80% and the A1203 lies between 5% and 50% by weight by chemical analysis and in which the ratio of the mols of MgO to the mols of FeO lies between 0.1 and 4.

3. A heat cast refractory composed principally of Cr203, FeO, A1203 and MgO substantially in the proportions of their spinels in which the proportion of Fe0.Cr203 liesbetween 40% and 60%, the proportion of Mg0.Cr203 lies between 20% and 40% and the pro-portion of Fe0.Al20 3 lies between 20% and 40% by weight and in which `theiron oxide is in excess of 20%` by weight.

4. A heat cast refractory composed principally of Cr203, FeO, A1203, MgO and S102 in which the moles of C1203 plus A1203 lie between 80% and- 120% of the moles of FeOplus MgO vand in which the FeO is not less than 8%, the MgO is not less than 1.5%, the'CrzOs is not less than 11%, the A1203 is not over-50% and the SOz is not over 8% 'by weight by chemical analysis and in which the ratio of the mols of MgO to the mols of FeO lies between 0.1 and 4.

5. A heat cast refractory composed principally of 838% Feo, 1.5-21% Mgo, 11-80% Crzoa, 5-50% A1203 and 0-8% SiOz by weight and in which the moles of 01'203 plus A1203 lie between 80% and 120% of the moles of FeO plus MgO and in which the ratio of the mols of Mg0 to the mols of FeO lies between 0.1 and 4.

6. A heat cast refractory composed principally of 1-5% S102 and of CrzOa, FeO, A1203 and MgO substantially the proportions of their spinels and in which the proportion of Fe0.Cr203 lies between 40% and 60 the proportion of Mg0.Cr20a lies between 20% and 40% and the proportion of FeO.Al2O3 lies between 20% and 40% by Weight and in which the iron oxide is in excess of 20% by weight.

THEODORE E. FIELD. 

